1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to refrigerant recovery equipment and, more particularly, is concerned with an oil collector unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Refrigerants such as "Freon", a well-known commercial brand of chlorinated fluorocarbons (CFC), are used as standard heat transfer media in refrigeration circuits for food refrigeration, air conditioners and similar appliances. Due to equipment malfunction, the refrigerant and oil can become contaminated, losing its effectiveness. Such CFC contamination can eventually cause compressor failure in the appliance due to its increased operating temperature triggered by the breakdown of CFCs after contamination.
Removal of the contaminated refrigerant from the appliance is thus necessitated. At one time the contaminated refrigerant was simply released into the atmosphere from the appliance or left to leak out from an abandoned appliance into the atmosphere. Now, however, increased environmental awareness has resulted in steps being taken to end such practices as their harmful effects on the ozone layer of the atmosphere have been widely known.
Additionally, cost considerations in recent years have stimulated efforts to develop efficient refrigerant recovery systems whereby a contaminated refrigerant can be removed from an appliance and purified of contaminants so as to be reusable in the particular appliance or to be stored appropriately for future use in other appliances. Representative examples of such systems are disclosed in Lower et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,330 and Lofland U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,289. Both of the systems disclosed address the problems of oil removal and refrigerant purification and recovery in a very comprehensive manner. However, each system is extremely complex in construction and thus costly to produce, providing a major drawback to their proliferation and utilization.
Consequently, a need exists for a recovery system wherein a major contaminant, such as oil, can be efficiently separated from the refrigerant fluid by simple and inexpensive means.